Think understanding slang isn’t important? Check out this article from today’s Boston Globe. Seems a prosecutor in Billings, Montana told a judge that his client, one Philip C. Holliday, claimed that a unicorn — that’s right, a unicorn — was driving when his truck crashed into a light pole earlier this month. Today, however, the chief prosecutor said it was all a misunderstanding. Actually, he explained, an unnamed woman was driving the truck — not a unicorn. According to the Globe:

The mixup occurred when a deputy prosecutor misunderstood an e-mail from a colleague who used the phrase “unicorn defense,” thinking it was an actual statement from Holliday, Paxinos said. “Unicorn defense” is a slang term used by prosecutors when a defendant blames some mythical person for a crime, he said.

“It’s kind of a code (between prosecutors) and the code was misinterpreted,” Paxinos said.

The chief prosecutor, the story goes on to say, apologized “to the public, the court and to Mr. Holliday” for the confusion and said he has chastised the prosecutors involved.